Combining Top-Level Design with "Crossing the River by Feeling the Stones"

At the opening ceremony of the special seminar on studying and implementing the spirit of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC for principal leading cadres at the provincial and ministerial level, when discussing the need to "combine top-level design with crossing the river by feeling the stones" in further deepening reform comprehensively, General Secretary Xi Jinping used a vivid metaphor to respond to the erroneous argument that "crossing the river by feeling the stones is conservative and timid": "Reforms on familiar ground are like swimming in a pool, with lanes marked, where the shallow area and the deep area are clear at a glance. When you get into a swift river, don't you have to cross it by feeling the stones? It is not as if, after decades of reform and opening up, we have now figured everything out. If everything were already figured out, what need would there be for reform?" Combining top-level design with crossing the river by feeling the stones is a reform method rich in Chinese wisdom and also a method consistent with Marxist epistemology and the theory of practice. On the new journey, to further deepen reform comprehensively closely around Chinese-path modernization, we must adhere to the correct methodology and persist in combining top-level design with crossing the river by feeling the stones.

在省部级主要领导干部学习贯彻党的二十届三中全会精神专题研讨班开班式上，谈到进一步全面深化改革要“顶层设计和摸着石头过河相结合”时，习近平总书记用一个生动比喻回应“摸着石头过河就是保守和胆小”的错误论调：“熟门熟路的改革，就像在游泳池，标着线，哪儿是浅水区、哪儿是深水区一目了然。到湍急的河里，不得摸着石头过河？并不是说改革开放搞了几十年了，现在什么问题都摸清楚了。如果都摸清楚了还要什么改革呢？”顶层设计和摸着石头过河相结合，是富有中国智慧的改革方法，也是符合马克思主义认识论和实践论的方法。新征程上，紧紧围绕中国式现代化进一步全面深化改革，必须坚持正确方法论，坚持把顶层设计和摸着石头过河相结合。

Advancing reform forward must strengthen top-level design

把改革推向前进必须加强顶层设计

Ideas are the forerunners of action; a certain development practice is guided by a certain development concept. Marx once made a vivid metaphor in *Capital*: "What distinguishes the worst architect from the best of bees is this, that the architect raises his structure in imagination before he erects it in reality." Being adept at using theory to guide practice is an important distinction between humans and animals. Lenin, when criticizing opportunist views, emphasized: "Without revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary movement." The more profoundly theory reveals the laws [of development], the more significant its guiding role in social development and transformation.

理念是行动的先导，一定的发展实践是由一定的发展理念来引领的。马克思在《资本论》中曾做过一个形象比喻：“最蹩脚的建筑师从一开始就比最灵巧的蜜蜂高明的地方，是他在用蜂蜡建筑蜂房以前，已经在自己的头脑中把它建成了。”善于运用理论指导实践，是人与动物的重要区别。列宁在批判机会主义观点时强调：“没有革命的理论，就不会有革命的运动。”理论对规律的揭示越深刻，对社会发展和变革的引领作用就越显著。

Marx pointed out: "The question whether objective truth can be attributed to human thinking is not a question of theory but is a practical question. Man must prove the truth, i.e., the reality and power, the this-sidedness of his thinking in practice." The scientific nature of Marxism comes from the Marxist classical writers' in-depth investigation of their era and the world, as well as their profound grasp of the laws of human social development. As the *Communist Manifesto* points out, the theoretical principles of the Communists "are merely a general expression of actual relations springing from an existing class struggle, from a historical movement going on under our very eyes."

马克思指出：“人的思维是否具有客观的真理性，这不是一个理论的问题，而是一个实践的问题。人应该在实践中证明自己思维的真理性，即自己思维的现实性和力量，自己思维的此岸性。”马克思主义的科学性来自马克思主义经典作家对所处时代和世界的深入考察，以及他们对人类社会发展规律的深刻把握。正如《共产党宣言》所指出的，共产党人的理论原理“不过是现存的阶级斗争、我们眼前的历史运动的真实关系的一般表述”。

Scientific top-level design is a truth-based understanding that comes from practice and has been repeatedly tested by practice. Comrade Mao Zedong said: "To build the house of the Chinese revolution, we must first have a blueprint for the Chinese revolution. We need not only a grand blueprint, a general blueprint, but also many small blueprints, detailed blueprints." The "blueprint" here refers to the issue of top-level design for the revolution. On the basis of deeply studying and analyzing the characteristics and laws of the Chinese revolution, our Party clarified the purpose, object, motive force, and specific steps of the new-democratic revolution, constructing a scientific top-level design to guide the Chinese revolution. After the founding of New China, the Chinese Communists, on the basis of continuously summarizing and deepening their understanding of the laws of governance by the Communist Party, the laws of socialist construction, and the laws of human social development, formed a scientific top-level design for "building a new world." It is precisely because of these active reflections on objective actual conditions obtained in practice that China's revolution, construction, and reform have been able to advance steadily in the correct direction.

科学的顶层设计是来自实践并经过实践反复检验的真理性认识。毛泽东同志说：“我们要建筑中国革命这个房屋，也须先有中国革命的图样。不但须有一个大图样，总图样，还须有许多小图样，分图样。”这里的“图样”，说的就是革命的顶层设计问题。我们党在深刻研究和分析中国革命的特点和规律基础上，明确新民主主义革命的目的、对象、动力、具体步骤等，构建起指导中国革命的科学顶层设计。新中国成立后，中国共产党人又在不断总结和深化关于共产党执政规律、社会主义建设规律、人类社会发展规律的认识基础上形成了“建设一个新世界”的科学顶层设计。正是因为有了这些在实践中所得来的关于客观实际情况的能动的反映，中国革命、建设、改革才能始终沿着正确的方向前进。

Strengthening the top-level design for further deepening reform comprehensively requires adhering to the guidance of scientific theory, strengthening the study and judgment of the interconnections among various reforms, striving to achieve coordination between the whole and the parts, the combination of addressing both symptoms and root causes, and the mutual promotion of gradual progress and breakthroughs, thereby transforming correct theoretical understanding into the practical force for further deepening reform comprehensively.

加强进一步全面深化改革的顶层设计，就要坚持以科学理论为指导，加强对各项改革关联性的研判，努力做到全局和局部相配套、治本和治标相结合、渐进和突破相促进，将正确的理论认识转化为进一步全面深化改革的实践力量。

Crossing the river by feeling the stones means seeking true knowledge and exploring laws

摸着石头过河就是求真知、探规律

Human productive activity is the most fundamental practical activity; any understanding arises from practice and in turn serves practice. Marx and Engels pointed out in *The German Ideology*: "The production of ideas, of conceptions, of consciousness, is at first directly interwoven with the material activity and the material intercourse of men, the language of real life." Lenin pointed

人类的生产活动是最基本的实践活动，任何认识都是从实践中产生又服务于实践的。马克思恩格斯在《德意志意识形态》中指出：“思想、观念、意识的生产最初是直接与人们的物质活动，与人们的物质交往，与现实生活的语言交织在一起的。”列宁指出：“实践高于（理论的）认识，因为它不但有普遍性的品格，而且还有直接现实性的品格。”实践决定认识，是认识的源泉和动力，也是认识的目的和归宿。

Marxism was formed in the practice of the people's struggle for liberation, and it has also been enriched and developed in that practice. At the same time, practice is constantly developing, and socialism is not immutable. Marx and Engels pointed out in the preface to the 1872 German edition of the *Communist Manifesto*: "However much the state of things may have altered during the last twenty-five years, the general principles laid down in this Manifesto are, on the whole, as correct today as ever." But they also noted: "The practical application of the principles will depend, as the Manifesto itself states, everywhere and at all times, on the historical conditions for the time being." The history of the development of Marxism is the history of Marx, Engels, and their successors constantly developing it in accordance with the changes of the times, practice, and understanding.

马克思主义是在人民求解放的实践中形成的，也是在人民求解放的实践中丰富发展的。同时，实践是不断发展的，社会主义也不是一成不变的。马克思恩格斯在《共产党宣言》1872年德文版序言中指出：“不管最近25年来的情况发生了多大的变化，这个《宣言》中所阐述的一般原理整个说来直到现在还是完全正确的。”但他们也指出：“这些原理的实际运用，正如《宣言》中所说的，随时随地都要以当时的历史条件为转移。”一部马克思主义发展史，就是马克思恩格斯以及他们的后继者们不断根据时代、实践、认识发展而发展的历史。

Building socialism and advancing reform and development have no ready-made experience or standard answers. In 1984, Comrade Deng Xiaoping said while meeting foreign guests: "In reform, we must take one step, look at the next; take one step, and sum up the experience of that step." China's reform and opening up is a process of continuous accumulation through first experimenting, then summarizing, and then promoting. It is a process of continuous deepening from the countryside to the cities, from the coastal areas to the interior, and from the partial to the whole. This avoided social unrest caused by unclear circumstances and inappropriate measures, and provided a guarantee for steadily advancing reform and smoothly achieving goals.

建设社会主义、推进改革发展，没有现成经验和标准答案。1984年，邓小平同志在会见外国客人时说：“我们要在改革中走一步，看一步；走一步，总结一步经验。”我国改革开放就是先试验、后总结、再推广不断积累的过程，是从农村到城市、从沿海到内地、从局部到整体不断深化的过程。这就避免了因情况不明、举措不当而引起的社会动荡，为稳步推进改革、顺利实现目标提供了保证。

Crossing the river by feeling the stones is, in essence, feeling for the laws from practical exploration. In practice, for reforms that must achieve breakthroughs but are not yet fully certain, the method of pilot exploration and testing the waters is adopted. First, carry out pilot projects, respect practice and creativity, encourage bold exploration and pioneering, seek true knowledge in practice and find laws in exploration, and continuously form new experience, deepen new understanding, and contribute new solutions.

摸着石头过河，实际上就是从实践探索中摸规律。实践中，对必须取得突破但一时还不那么有把握的改革，就采取试点探索、投石问路的方法，先行试点，尊重实践、尊重创造，鼓励大胆探索、勇于开拓，在实践中求真知、在探索中找规律，不断形成新经验、深化新认识、贡献新方案。

Adhering to the Correct Method of Thinking in Further Comprehensively Deepening Reform

在进一步全面深化改革中坚持正确思想方法

Strengthening top-level design and crossing the river by feeling the stones are both important methods for advancing reform that have been repeatedly proven by practice. They are also the correct methods of thinking that must be adhered to in further comprehensively deepening reform on the new journey. To further comprehensively deepen reform, we must be adept at both strengthening top-level design and focusing on overall planning, and at grasping the pulse of reform from the complex surface of things, accurately grasping the inherent laws of "how to cross the river."

加强顶层设计和摸着石头过河，都是实践反复证明了的推进改革的重要方法，也是新征程上进一步全面深化改革必须坚持的正确思想方法。进一步全面深化改革，既要善于加强顶层设计、注重统筹谋划，又要善于从纷繁复杂的事物表象中把准改革脉搏，准确把握“如何过河”的内在规律。

Reform and opening up is a profound and comprehensive social transformation, involving both productive forces and relations of production, both the economic base and the superstructure. As reform has progressed to the present, it is necessary to propose a top-level design and overall plan for further comprehensively deepening reform on the basis of in-depth investigation and research. Anchor the overall goal of continuing to improve and develop the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and advancing the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity. Propose an overall plan, roadmap, and timetable for reform, enhance the systemic, holistic, and coordinated nature of reform, and prevent piecemeal actions and repeated flip-flopping like "flipping the pancake."

改革开放是一场深刻而全面的社会变革，既涉及生产力又涉及生产关系，既涉及经济基础又涉及上层建筑。改革推进到现在，必须在深入调查研究基础上提出进一步全面深化改革的顶层设计和总体规划，锚定继续完善和发展中国特色社会主义制度、推进国家治理体系和治理能力现代化这个总目标，提出改革的总体方案、路线图、时间表，增强改革的系统性、整体性、协同性，防止零敲碎打，防止来回折腾“翻烧饼”。

At the same time, advancing Chinese-path modernization is an exploratory undertaking, and there are still many unknown areas. We should encourage bold experimentation and breakthroughs, study new situations, solve new problems, and sum up new experiences. Once experience is gained and consensus is formed in practice, and once it is seen clearly and feels stable enough to promote, then promote it, accumulating small victories into big ones. Facing new fields, new practices, and new problems, fully respect the pioneering spirit of the grassroots and the masses, and continuously create and accumulate more replicable and promotable fresh experience in pioneering and innovative exploration. Of course, this is by no means "stepping on a watermelon rind, sliding wherever it goes," but rather acting according to the laws already recognized, and continuing to deepen the understanding of the laws in practice.

同时，推进中国式现代化是一个探索性事业，还有许多未知领域。应鼓励大胆试验、大胆突破，研究新情况、解决新问题、总结新经验，在实践中取得了经验、形成了共识，看得准了，感觉到推开很稳当了，再推开，积小胜为大胜。面对新领域、新实践、新问题，充分尊重基层和群众首创精神，在开拓性创新探索中不断创造和积累更多可复制、可推广的新鲜经验。当然，这绝不是“脚踩西瓜皮，滑到哪里算哪里”，而是按照已经认识到的规律来办，并且在实践中继续加深对规律的认识。

General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: “For matters that are well thought out and carefully considered, top-level design should be carried out; for matters that are uncertain and not yet mature, we cross the river by feeling the stones. These two things must be ‘used with both hands.’” Crossing the river by feeling the stones and strengthening top-level design are dialectically unified. Advancing partial and phased reforms must proceed under the premise of strengthening top-level design, and strengthening top-level design must be planned on the basis of advancing partial and phased reforms. Compared with the past, the breadth and depth of today’s reforms have greatly expanded. It is necessary to adhere to the combination of crossing the river by feeling the stones and strengthening top-level design with greater political courage and wisdom, and to deepen reforms without missing the opportunity and with steady and sure steps.

习近平总书记指出：“对于胸有成竹的、思虑缜密的，那就要搞顶层设计；对于心里没底的、还不成熟的，就摸着石头过河，这两件事要‘两手并用’。”摸着石头过河和加强顶层设计是辩证统一的，推进局部的阶段性改革要在加强顶层设计的前提下进行，加强顶层设计要在推进局部的阶段性改革的基础上来谋划。同过去相比，今天改革的广度和深度都大大拓展了，必须以更大的政治勇气和智慧，坚持摸着石头过河和加强顶层设计相结合，不失时机、蹄疾步稳把改革引向深入。

(Author: Che Zongkai, Assistant Professor, School of Marxism, Tsinghua University)

（作者：车宗凯，系清华大学马克思主义学院助理教授）

Online editor: Huihui

网络编辑：慧慧